Sunday, June 8, 2008

Sit Down, Stop Whining, and Weed!!!

Remember me complaining about how I never can get anything done in my own garden. I was sunburned and being a big baby. The garden really was neglected. There were weeds everywhere. Everything was overgrown, and many little veggies were waiting to be planted. Well what a difference a week can make.

At the end of my gripefest last Sunday, I had decided to just go out in the garden and just enjoy gardening. I took a little stool, gloves, a bucket for weeds, my Felcos, and a glass of wine. I sat in the garden for about an hour and a half, staying until it was too dark to tell the difference between the good plants and the bad weeds. I worked until the area I could reach was cleared and then picked up my stool and moved down the row. After repeating this activity every evening since, I am happy to say, about half the garden has been looked after and the compost pile has been turned.

It is possible to turn and sift a compost pile while sitting down. A giant pile of plant material was accumulated during the weeding process. After compost turning and sifting was over, I layered the weeds, with rough compost, and stuff cleaned out of the refrigerator. Cotton seed meal was also added to the pile. Hopefully, tomorrow, this will be a hot pile. If not, tomorrow's post will be a rant about why my compost pile will not heat up.

I really enjoyed this week in my garden. There was no sunburn or sore back. There was no feeling sorry for myself. I did get crawled on by lady bugs and enjoyed the scent of herbs as I brushed against them while working. Lemon balm, lemon verbena, Mexican mint marigold, thyme, and basil all smelled wonderful. Finally, I have a garden I can be proud of. Well, at least part of the garden is praise worthy. The second half of the garden and the perennial borders still need a lot of work. There is still a long way to go, but at least I know how to get there.